Because you were all faithful to pray for our Kairos #29 team this is what happened.
What Happened to Me?
Ambushed by a our God who loves all men and women everywhere, yes even the ones incarcerated.
Overwhelmed with the goodness of God to break down walls, age, race, socio-economic backgrounds. At my family table alone we had a Mexican, Laotian. African-American, Hawaiian, and two Caucasians.
Amazed to see these men begin to break down their walls of fear and shame. The walls that by definition alone one to stay alive in prison. Men sharing their deepest darkest secrets and then praying for each other.
Simple and powerful prayers from men who are facing the next 10 to 50 years separated from life on the outside, Separated from wives, children- some who they have never me as they were born after they went into prison.
Men who wept when they looked up and saw drawings from hundreds of kids, encouraging them to trust God in the midst of their circumstances.
Men who opened letters from complete strangers encouraging them to follow God and live for Him in prison. Some of them have never received one letter.
I was privileged to bring four meditations on forgiveness. It was key to the weekend. This was followed by a forgiveness service where the team and the inmates wrote down on a piece of paper those they need to forgive. They those papers were dropped in water and dissolved. Team members then washed their hands and prayed forgiveness over them. Some of them have never gone to this place before.
What Happened to Our Team?
Many of the team have been a part of Kairos for years. One of the older men has been involved faithfully for 16 years. We came from all walks of life, all church backgrounds- Vineyard, Calvary, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal. That in itself is a miracle. Men who came for one purpose- to bring the love of Jesus to these men. There was no "pros". No super stars. It was the body of Christ in action in a way I have not seen it before. Men who took no thought about how tired we were or how terrible the food was, and it was terrible. We spent 40 plus hours in the prison between Thursday night and Monday night.
Let me summarize it this way: God has an on fire, powerful church in the Lompoc Federal Penitentiary !!!!
I think the men can express what happened way better than I can. Here are some direct quotes from the men on the closing night where each of them had an opportunity to answer these three questions:
“In what spiritual condition did you arrive at Kairos?”
“What did you find here?”
“What are you taking away with you?”
“It’s a beautiful thing. I wa s overcome with emotion. I went back to my cell, glad I didn’t have a cell-mate, because I broke down. What you see lasts a minute; what you don’t see lasts forever. I discussed some things I haven’t discussed in four years.”
“It’s hard to be humble in the jungle, but I’ve been with you cats for four days, and we’ll take this outside to the yard.”
“I knew God, but not like I do now. I came here with a spiritual higher power, but now I know God.”
“We found a room full of love and a spiritual atmosphere.”
“We’ll be taking away some sharing from [Table] Family members20that broke my heart, strong support from the Spirit of the Lord. I’m enjoying this to its fullest.”
“When we got here Friday, we were on the ground … down, more or less. We found peace, support, and the truth that exists among us here. We found the joy of love, the peace and love of our brothers.”
“I arrived here a baby in Christ. I found a family and experienced God’s unconditional love, a spiritual awakening. We found genuine, honest, outstretched hands of friendship. We’re taking with us a desire to find some strong brothers to fellowship with here.”
“When I see you guys, love is in the air. I’m feeling=2 0very courageous for the Lord. All the nations are like a drop of water to Him. I’d forgotten how much love you can see from God. Instead of just standing around, going through the motions, I need to step up and spread the love of God. Our God is an awesome God!”
“I don’t have any children, but even so, I just can’t fathom sending my son to die for all of your sins.”
“There’s a lot of men I’ve seen over the last four days, and I’ve never seen that kind of love. When we get together like this, it takes us out of this prison.”
0A
“I’m the last person you’d expect to hear here at this microphone. My spiritual direction is the Native American sweat lodge, etc. I cannot turn my back on my native religion, but these forty hours have planted a seed. This is a humbling experience, and I’m glad I experienced it. I’m looking forward to what’s coming up down the road.”
Traditionally, a member of the Inside Team is asked to give a closing talk. This time a man named Al, nicknamed “A.K.” gave a very short talk. Here’s some of it:
“I’ve been saying no to God all my life, and that’s what got me in here. I got this note here that says, ‘God has chosen you to give this talk.’ That’s not fair! I can’t say no to that.
“Don’t run from God anymore. The guys that do – you see them here wearing khakis.
“I haven’t had a visit for the last ten years. Those old, bald-headed, gray-haired men over there? Those are our visits. So don’t say we don’t get visits.”
(old, bald headed...well yes, the gray is accurate...)
So thank you, thank you, thank you for blessing us to go and praying for us. Some of you at 1, 2 am.
Very Thankful In Love,
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